rotoscytheben

picked this up today for andrew (triumph66)
 

well after quite a while in bits this is finally back together although not in bare polished look as i had initially intended due to pitting of the alloy, i dont think it would have looked as good as i would have liked
so ive gone for original mountfield red and a bit of black and white here and there
here are a few pics  

once the handles have been done i will update with finished pics 

nice to see someone else,s shed cluttered with mower bits

ive been after one of these for a while now and it turned up today after a few minutes it was running briefly but the carb is knackered and i hate tecumseh engines so its going to get a honda lump very soon here are a couple of pics 

Hi Iain, it will have a split brake pedal, but split front/back rather than sides on the rear...
 
 
 
 
Thanks James, it's getting not as fast as I would like, but any progress is good progress..
 
 
Even though I have not posted anything about Why Not for a few weeks work has slowly been happening..
 
When I left off at the end of the last update I had just started making new wheel centers.. Like so
 

 
 
Which eventually turned into this...
 

 

 
 
The raised bit is a nice tight fit in the center of the wheel which means the new wheel center is centralized in the center of the wheel
 

 
 
And from the outside it looks like this.. Please note the widened wheel rim was used for photographic purposes only and won't be going on Why Not..
 

 
 
Bolt holes drilled... The extra two holes were the result of me making a jig out of ally to drill the holes accurately....  The trouble with ally is it's rather soft to use as a jig and one of the new holes ended up a couple of mm's in the wrong place!
 

 
 
Time to break out the welder.. Lot's of tacks to stop it moving with heat..
 

 
 
Fully welded in..   A mixture of neat strong welds and not quite so neat but still strong welds
 

 
 
The blackish ring seen on the inside shows good heat penetration.. 
 

 
 
Next up was to remove the old wheel center...
 

 
 
Once it was cleaned up you could see the join between the new wheel center and the old metal, so I carefully ground out a V along the join and....
 

 
 
Back filled the V with plenty of weld
 

 
 
With the welds and the raised center carefully ground down to make it all smooth and level..
 

 
 
I could finally bolt a Wheel Horse wheel to a Reliant rear axle
 

 

managed to get back on this project after finishing the kubota, after making the bonnet it dawned on me that i could not fill the radiator up cos the nose cone was in the way,and i couldnt make a hole for tha rad cap cos it came halfway across the bulge on the nose, so i welded the bonnet to the nose and made a big hinge, why i was at it i cut up an old rotosythe grass box and used the louvers from it to extend the body  the reason i have done this is cos the engine looks so small in the space and needed closing in a bit
 

 
found a model to hold a bit of metal
 

its got 25x8x12 front 
25x10x12 rear 
treads arent that good though for mud plugging and the arent e marked for road use!
i have some new ones on order they are road legal tyres but with much more tread and they are 6ply so pretty un burstable
i will also have another seat of off road use only wheels and tyres they will be very aggressive gorilla axle 32" all round with 2.5 inch treads!

thought id post this now ive had a chance to uncover it properly 


this wont be ready for a while yet due to a few mods to be done to get ready for road use 
but i cant wait to ride it 

Over the years I have tried a number of ways to reduce the effort involved with firewood movements and the latest is a shed on wheels. The time between Christmas and New Year is about the only time I get for projects and this was my project last year.
 
When a few friends first saw what I made they could not stop laughing and thought I was mad. So before I add a picture to the post I will try to justify my madness. I tend to work long hours, have two small kids and all the heating/hot water in our house is from a woodburner. In the winter I was finding that I would get home from work, help with the kid’s bedtime routine, collect the next days wood and then go to bed. I had tried a number of things over the years to reduce the time moving wood and this has been the most successful as the wood handling is at a minimum. I move the trailer shed to my wood store once a week, fill it, drag it to the back door of the house and then we can just use the wood as we need it.
 
Anyway enough trying to justify it, here a picture of the loaded trailer shed heading back to the house.
 
 
The trailer shed has to go over boggy ground so it has lots of nose weight and I always pull it with a strong tractor. It is not unusual for it to sink into the ground a number of inches as it is being pulled. It is interesting to watch the ground move. I keep meaning to weigh it full to see just how much it weighs full.
 
Iain
 
 
 

That welding look damn good.
At the rate you're knocking it out, do you think you will have this 'on the road' for the summer?

wrong answer
its spangley new 
i suppose i can jack the tree up somewhat and it should fit 
damn that means i will have to modify the ceiling 
no mate its made by kawasaki check out the next picture coming in a moment 

here is another pic with her blouse off 

wrong answer
its spangley new 
i suppose i can jack the tree up somewhat and it should fit 
damn that means i will have to modify the ceiling 
no mate its made by kawasaki check out the next picture coming in a moment 

here is another pic with her blouse off 

Why do you think I drink so much coffee

Must be cold in your workshop with all that frost round your chin Ian

he does look smart , ive made him a white beared for his next vidio
 
 

Hi Iain, the hammer is only there as I've not found a home for it yet    Spot on with your bracket guesswork, yes the axle will be bolted to the chassis through the brackets. The axle needs to come off so I can split it and put the diff back in
 
 
 
Hi Chris, don't worry the tyres will be replaced by new ones before any daft speeds are reached.. The old tyres could be handy for doing some burn-outs though
 
 
 
 
I'm not sure about slicks (until it goes up the strip of course) but a wheelie bar might be handy
 
 
Well chaps, no going back now
 

Evening all, the tale of Why Not's chassis continues with some more metal being added on Monday..
 
The front of the engine cradle had some mounts welded on, the small holes need to be drilled out a bit so I can weld some crush tube in, then they will be ready for bolts.
 

 
 
A couple of diagonal strengtheners.
 

 
 
This small bit of box will be the front body tub mounts.
 

 
 
I think the chassis is starting to look quite good now
 

 

 
 
Which has got me around to thinking that's it's about time I got the axle narrowing finished and narrowed the axles...
 

 
 
Which is why I spent a lot of today getting my lathe all bolted down and up and running
 

 
 
Cutting/cooling fluid is pumped from this Ford screen washer bottle as it has been for years..
 

 
 
But this time the pump is powered by a model railway controller thingy, ideal for changing the speed of the flow
 

 
 
If all goes to plan tomorrow I might even get both axles done....
 
 
But to tide you over here's my latest "Why Not" video..
 

Ian, This is getting better all the time. Good call on removing the old chassis, it looks so much better. What size box are you using for the chassis, it looks like 50x25x3 although in some shots it looks more like 75x50?
 
Cheeky thought. As it is looking better the more WH you remove the better, I wonder if the same could be said for all WH's

Looking good, not much WH left now
Thanks Iain, there's even less Wh left now!
 
 
Yesterday was the day the last bit of the original Wh chassis was removed..
 

 
 
The new chassis certainly looks cleaner without the old rails inside
 

 
 
The front end is starting to take shape. The big box across the front will become the new front axle after it has had a change of shape, some strengthening and something added to give it a real Hot rod look
 

 

 
 
Oh... And I found a spare plug yesterday
 

Thanks Mark, it will look even better soon
 
I'm not sure what's going on but I did update this thread about 20 mins ago but it's vanished!!   Best try again..
 
 
Well today I finally started working on Why Not again which felt rather nice after weeks of bench building and getting the new house sorted out..
 
This is what she looked like when I arrived in the workshop this morning..
 

 
 
It didn't take long to get her stripped down to an almost naked chassis..
 

 
 
The front axle soon came off followed by the front of the chassis!!!
 

 
 
So why did I cut the front of the chassis off?    Well, after much thought I have decided to remove what was left of the original chassis, the main reason being strength which is a nice thing to have plenty of with all the hp the engine produces..
It also looks quite out of place with the rest of the box chassis rails.
 
But before I can remove all the original chassis, I need to add some new chassis rails each side..
 
A bit hard to see from the photo's but the new rails gradually tuck in under the engine and straighten up at the front again for the new front axle I'm going to make..
 

 

 

 
 
Not a huge amount of progress, but it's a start

20,000 packs of baccy !

Tractor looks great Nigel, I see Dennis is supervising the job !!

A dozen or so gathered today at the Plough and Horses pub in Crowborough for the Sussex area Xmas Lunch
 
A great lunch was followed by a cuppa and a natter at ours plus a look round my sheds, a good afternoon, thanks to those who turned up
 
I also picked up a new machine from Phil Murrell, a Ransomes Cyclone mower  looking in the brochure collection I found the right one for it.
 
 
 
 
 
 

hi ian
nice to see you have settled in and why not is looking very sexy indeed
ive got a few more bulbs kicking about somewhere for your sign i will dig them out and deliver them soon
we will catch up soon mate ta ta for now